Success Tips from GlitzGlitter

Violet Purple Recycled Glass Sterling Silver Necklace – Iris
by GlitzGlitter

This month I bring you an interview with successful jewelry seller Celia from GlitzGlitter.
She has a lovely shop with fantastic photos and items and today she’s happy to share her experience as a seller with us.
Enjoy this interview!

How much time took from the beginning to make your shop profitable?

Profitable? Haha, I don’t think I am there, yet. I started my shop in June of ’09 and didn’t really pay much attention to it until October. Then, once I quit my day job and focused all my energies on my shop, I did see a huge improvement in my sales. Having the time to answer questions as they come in, being able to relist an item right after it has sold, and having the time to make new things almost every day has seemed to really have a positive influence on my sales.

How do you find strength to continue during low/no sales periods?

Summer is a very slow time, and it is frustrating. I took a good friend’s advice and I have kept busy remaking some of my older items, taking new pictures, freshening up my tags for the coming Fall, and making tons of ear wires. Basically, forcing myself to keep as busy as I want to be all the time. I am trying to keep myself so busy, that I don’t have time to worry about how slow it is.

Your business has grown fast in less than a year, how you succeed in a saturated market? Do you believe that luck plays a role on your sales?

Jewelry is such a saturated market and it has been amazing to me that I have done as well as I have. I think a lot of it is luck. I spent a lot of time in the beginning attending Virtual Labs, reading in the forums about photography tips, reading the Storque for merchandising ideas. Taking and retaking and re-retaking pictures and working on my tags. Then I was lucky enough to be in the Finds, and that is when my shop really took off. So, it is partly luck, and partly that my hard work paid off, maybe?

And networking! Making friends, making treasuries, meeting new people, making connections, being on a team. Etsy is far too big for anyone to do it all alone. I could never have gotten as far as I have without all the love, support and advice of my friends and teammates.

How do you manage to create what *you* like and to adapt to the market at the same time?

I like a simple, clean look in jewelry. Luckily, it is easy to adapt my style to the market. Seasonal color trends can be incorporated easily, and with a background change in pictures, something can go from a summer item to a fall one without much trouble. I have tried making things that were not my style but were popular, and I had a hard time selling them because they were just not me. Having your own voice in your work, I think, makes for a more cohesive and pleasing look, even if it is not what is “in” at the time.

From where you are now, what do you think it’s important to focus on to keep your business growing?

I think it’s important to never think what you are doing is “good enough.” Improvements can always be made, whether it is your craft, your packaging, tags, pictures. I think it’s important to keep on striving. I have just signed up for a class in metalsmithing, I am hoping to push myself to a new level, and hope I can continue pushing myself.

Something you would like to say to your European fellows?

It seems to me that you Europeans are already a step ahead of most of us Americans. Maybe it is because most of the world follows your fashion trends. I really should be asking all of you for advice

Thank you Celia!

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